Back on the bash!

[Donny Dave]

As I had a couple of appointments in Sheffield today, and I had a South Yorkshire Travelmaster, I decided to have a mini day out. First up was a 170 from Doncaster to Sheffield as far as Meadowhall, where I then doubled back to Rotherham.

Here, I had to wait about 35 minutes for the tram-train to Parkway. From Parkway, I re-boarded the same tram to get to the city centre for my appointments.

Following my appointments, I needed to walk very quickly to Sheffield Station, where I only just made the 1445 to Leeds, which I took as far as Barnsley, for my first trip in a 195. I had to get across the footbridge pretty sharpish, as the stopper to Sheffield was due very shortly. This turned out to be a 158, which I took back to Meadowhall to await the 1555 ex Sheffield which goes to Hull and Scarborough. This turned out to be a 2 car 158 vice 3 car 170, so was pretty cosy on board.

Some impressions from my day:

The tram-trains accelerate like the proverbial of a shovel, and slow down nearly as quickly. I did find however that the ride quality was poor, both on NR tracks and the street sections.

The 150s look and sound tired now, surely it can't be that long before they are replaced.

The 158s are still good solid work horses, but are wasted on services with frequent stops around South Yorkshire.

My initial impression about the 195s are that they are an upgrade on pacers and 150s, but as I have only had 1 fairly short trip on them so far, I'll reserve judgement on them until I've got a few more trips under my belt.

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like you had a good day it's been too long since my last trip on the Sheffield trams (outside of the city centre)

 

[Donny Dave]

Cheers, for my first time out in a while, it wasn't bad at all. I must remember in future to leave myself enough time to get the trains, as some of them were a bit tight (I made the 1445 with about 20 seconds to spare). Hopefully, I'll be going a bit further next time out.

 

[Donny Dave]

Saturday 29th June.

A few days ago, I decided to have a good walk along the Hope Valley, so I duly arrived at Doncaster Station just before 9am to buy a return to Grindleford. The first sight to greet my eyes was the departure boards, and the fact the Scarborough to Sheffield service was decimated by cancellation. The 0915 and 1018 to Sheffield was cancelled, along with the 0924 to Scarborough, all these were listed as problems with the signalling system. However, the Hull to Doncaster local service was unaffected. On reaching the platform, I noticed a Northern 170 parked up and shut down in P7.

My trip to Grindleford was uneventful, with a TPE service to Sheffield, then a Northern 4 car 15x combo onwards (from observations through the day when I was close to the line, Northern seemed to have put 4 car 15x combos on all the Hope Valley stoppers).

Time to refuel at the Grindleford station cafe. It may be pricey, but it is worth it, after which, I set off just after 11. Following the footpaths along the valley, I made reasonable time to Hathersage, where I decided to carry on along the footpaths, and avoid the hill into the village. I think I made a wrong turn when I reached the other side of Hathersage though, as I carried on down the road, although this did allow me to make a much needed pit stop for a coffee at the Bird Cafe about a mile from Bamford (note for future walks, avoid as I found it over priced and not that good). I reached Bamford station at about quarter past 1, where my legs cried enough.

Another 4 car 15x back to Sheffield, and Bamford to Grindleford single bought. This part of the journey was uneventful until the approach to the station. Here, Sheffield PSB decided to hold us here for about 5 minutes, allowing an EMR St Pancras service to overtake and arrive in P2, and a XC service to leave from P6 before we were routed into P7 (other Hope Valley services from observations on this and other days had all arrived and departed from P5a). Because of this, the following TPE arrived at the same time, but on the other side of the station, meaning that I (plus a few others on the train) had no chance of making it.

Fortunately, there was an XC service just after half 2, so I didn't have to wait too long to get back home. Final arrival time was just after ten to 3, where I went home, exhausted but happy after a good walk.